My list of favourites and interests for this year ordered roughly in descending order. My new years resolution is to branch out a bit and listen to new and unfamiliar genres, metal and non-metal.

Edit: Anything above about a 7/10 I'll keep here. Now with approximate rating in a .5 scale and ordered according to **replay value** i.e how often I listen to them. AND now with some comments, adding them gradually.

1.Enslaved - RIITIIR

2.Pharaoh - Bury The Light

3.Anglagard - Viljans Öga

4.Overkill - The Electric Age

5.The Foreshadowing - Second World

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Other good lists with some melodic metal in them:
strade's - R'Vannith's - Unhealer's - Lkoturnindrin's

Will only add 7.5+ releases, so this won't be a gargantuan list... last year saw maybe forty or so releases I thought of as 7.5+'s, a lot of them rated only at the end of the year, and some not rated at all due to the extensiveness of pre-MSA listening sessions... if you want to stalk my "bad" ratings, they're all in my album votes.

1.Enochian Theory - Life... And All It Entails

2.Dissona - Dissona

3.Big Big Train - English Electric 1

4.Headspace - I Am Anonymous

5.Beyond The Bridge - The Old Man And The Spirit

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This is my order of preference of the 2012's albums I've listened for now. Feel free to make recommendations or ask anything.

1.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

2.Moonspell - Alpha Noir / Omega White

3.Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

4.Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

5.Kreator - Phantom Antichrist

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My favorite albums. Includes EPs and 1 compilation. Anything ouside the top 20 or so could be up or down several places. Constantly subject to change.

1.Saviour Machine - Saviour Machine II

2.Ayreon - The Human Equation

3.Stolen Babies - There Be Squabbles Ahead

4.Billy Idol - Cyberpunk

5.Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

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1.Wintersun - Time I

2.Sybreed - God Is An Automaton

3.Atoma - Skylight

4.The Omega Experiment - The Omega Experiment

5.Circus Maximus - Nine

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Updated as the year goes on...

1.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

2.Oddland - The Treachery Of Senses

3.Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I

4.Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve

5.Enslaved - RIITIIR

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You know the drill...

1.Enslaved - RIITIIR

2.Saturnus - Saturn In Ascension

3.Hail Spirit Noir - Pneuma

4.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

5.Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas

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I will be logging here everything I check out and at least slightly enjoy on 2012, so I don't miss anything by the end of the year. Scores are subject to change.

1.Ihsahn - Eremita

2.Hypno5e - Acid Mist Tomorrow

3.Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata

4.Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

5.Hail Spirit Noir - Pneuma

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One of likely hundreds of these, more for self-enjoyment (or something) above anything, but if it helps someone find a good album/albums they wouldn't've otherwise heard I'll be happy.

1.Sylosis - Monolith

2.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

3.In The Silence - A Fair Dream Gone Mad

4.Abigail Williams - Becoming

5.Enslaved - RIITIIR

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1.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

2.Devin Townsend - Z²

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.Fear Factory - The Industrialist

5.Soulfly - Enslaved

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Work in progress

1.Sybreed - God Is An Automaton

2.Skyharbor - Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.Enslaved - RIITIIR

5.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

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The goats. The near perfect albums that never get old. Some are full of catchy bangers I'm always humming, and some are so full to the brim of details that I still haven't even uncovered them all.

A brief outline of my ratings:
8.5-9.0 = An excellent album with a few mild drawbacks (Weak song, slightly irritating vocals, odd flow)
9.0-9.5 = Perfect albums that haven't quite warranted the time-earnt 9.5+.
9.5-9.9 = Perfect albums that have stood the test of time, ranked by preference.
10 = I don't expect to hear another album like these, ever.

(I use 'perfect' lightly as it makes no sense for a man-made creation to be flawless. 'Perfect' is simply a term to outline how high a level of enjoyment is, specifically the level of enjoyment when minor faults become insignificant.)

(I evaluate albums outside of metal vastly differently to the ones here, which explains the lack of representation of my other favourite genres. Blue Sky Mining is an exception due to being structured very similarly to my optimal metal album. I may add some picks from other genres down the line.)


STATS:
I know y'all don't look at my lists, so these are purely for my own interest.

-Decades
'10s: 36
'20s: 22
'00s: 7
'90s: 2

-Genres (By best fit or most prominent)
Prog: 35
Death: 11
Power: 9
Symphonic: 4
Black: 3
Contemporary: 2
Folk: 1
Doom: 1
Rock: 1

1.Devin Townsend - Empath

2.Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Persefone - Aathma

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My favorite albums of 2012.

*Now separated into a 'metal' and 'non-metal' section. (non-metal is at the bottom of the list).

Soon to be added: Clocks, Kiko Loureiro, Deathmole, Leonard Cohen, Panzerballett, Coronado, Striker, Dethklok, The Sword.

1.Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

2.Hypno5e - Acid Mist Tomorrow

3.The Faceless - Autotheism

4.Gorod - A Perfect Absolution

5.Save Us From the Archon - How Terrible, The Undergrowth's Jaws That Tangle

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1.

2.Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

3.Slauter Xstoyes - Winter Kill

4.Watch Tower - Energetic Disassembly

5.Trilogy - Life On Earth

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1.Saturnus - Saturn In Ascension

2.Daylight Dies - A Frail Becoming

3.Atoma - Skylight

4.In Mourning - The Weight Of Oceans

5.Katatonia - Dead End Kings

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